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Information About

Toledo, Peoria And Western Railway




The Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway is currently a Short-line Railroad that operates from Mapleton, Illinois through Peoria across Illinois to Logansport, Indiana and includes a branch line between Logansport to Winamac, Indiana . TP&W has trackage rights between Galesburg, Illinois and Peoria, between Logansport and Kokomo, Indiana , and between Reynolds, Indiana and Lafayette, Indiana . Traffic includes agricultural-related commodities, auto parts, coal, steel and chemicals. TPW has connections with UP , BNSF , NS , CSXT , CN , CP, CERA, CIM, KBSR and T&P.


HISTORY

Toledo, Peoria & Western's earliest ancestor was the Peoria And Oquawka . The eastern extension began construction, three years after its charter in 1855 .

The Toledo, Peoria & Western was incorporated in Illinois on March 28 , 1887 and consolidated the operation of the Toledo, Peoria, And Warsaw Railway and the Logansport, Peoria, And Burlington Railroad . The Logansport, Peoria and Burlington Railroad, built from Galesburg to East Burlington, Illinois in 1855, reached Gilman, Illinois in 1857, and Effner in 1859.

A TP&W passenger train was involved in the Great Chatsworth Train Wreck in Chatsworth, Illinois in 1887 .

The Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad purchased six Class H-10 Northerns from the American Locomotive Company in 1937. These locomotives were given road numbers 80 through 85 and were the lightest 4-8-4 ever built for a North American railroad, weighing only 361,000 pounds. They had 69-inch drivers, 23.5 x 30 cylinders, a 250 psi boiler pressure and a Tractive Effort of 51,000 pounds force.

In January 1960, the ATSF & PRR gained joint control (half interests) of TP&W. When the Penn Central collapsed in 1976, the TP&W acquired the former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage from Effner into Logansport.

In 1979, the Toledo, Peoria & Western was acquired by the Santa Fe . TPW was merged into ATSF on December 3 , 1983 .

The ATSF sold the main line on February 3 , 1989 to new investors called Delaware Otsego Corporation , who reused the TP&W name; TP&W was an independent railroad again. In 1998, TP&W had revenues of approximately $13.4 million and moved over 59,000 freight carloads and intermodal units.

Acquired by RailAmerica on September 3 , 1999 , it is still operated as TP&W.


Keokuk Junction Railway purchases


The Keokuk Junction Railway now owns parts of the old TP&W line, including the Western Illinois & Keokuk section of TP&W (Fulton, McDonough and Hancock counties in Illinois).

In December 1986, KJRY purchased 33.5 miles of TP&W trackage (then managed by the Santa Fe Railroad ) from Keokuk, Iowa and Warsaw, Illinois to La Harpe, Illinois .

KJRY's feeder line application with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to acquire the assets of the west end of the TP&W was granted on 2004 - 10-28 . KJRY completed the acquisition on 2005 - 02-11 , adding 76 miles from LaHarpe to Peoria, the old TP&W main line west of Peoria.


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